Extraction, pharmacological prediction and experimental verification of <i>Coreopsis tinctoria</i> flowers

<i>Coreopsis tinctoria</i> (<i>C. tinctoria</i>) is a traditional plant with high medicinal value and edible value. It has the effect of invigorating spleen and stomach and has the potential to develop into flower tea. Therefore, the extraction process of <i>C. tinctoria</i> extract (CTA) was optimised by analytic hierarchy process (AHP) combined with orthogonal test, and its activity was predicted by network pharmacology and verified by experiments. The optimal extraction conditions: temperature of 80 °C, extraction period of 10 min, solid-liquid ratio of 1:70 and times 2. CTA had no gastrointestinal irritation and can significantly increase the faecal water content of mice, inhibit amylase activity, increase protease, xylanase and cellulase activity, increase the number of intestinal <i>Lactobacillus</i> and <i>Bifidobacterium</i>, reduce the number of <i>Escherichia coli</i> and <i>Enterococcus</i>. In summary, CTA can effectively improve the intestinal digestive enzyme activity and the number of probiotics and has the potential to treat gastrointestinal diseases.